Nationalism DBQ

"Nationalism united people into nation- states, toppled empires composed of many ethnic minorities, and contributed to the outbreak of wars in the nineteenth century. How would you evaluate this statement?"

Nationalism is a common patriotic passion for one's nation and fellow nationals that united, and still unites certain groups of people. Nationalism can cause for the birth of loyalty to ethnic minorities, which have potential to cause many historically significant events. It was a force that caused conflict in, and shaped the paths of Italy, Germany and France, among the other great European powers of the time.

In France, on August 23, 1793 the "Levee en Masse" greatly impacted French society. The Levee en Masse was in a way, a draft to rally support of the citizens. It showed nationalism because it required the people to work for the greater good of a nation. (Document 1) Since patriotism is one of the key factors of nationalism, the Levee en Masse is a perfect illustration of the effects of nationalism on French society. Another example of French nationalism is shown in Document 2, which consists of an excerpt of the French National Anthem. The French National Anthem urges the French to fight for their right to liberty against cruel tyrants. This is shown in the following quote: "Arise, children of the fatherland…Against us cruel tyrants…March on, march on, To liberty or death!"

Another group of people that was heavily impacted by the effects of nationalism were the Italian people. In 1850, Italy was ruled by many different empires. They were separate states with no unification whatsoever. The Northern regions were richer than the south, and the two areas had nothing in common. Italy had lack of unity, which is shown in the fact that Mazzini wanted a Republic, the Pope wanted a confederation, and Charles Albert wanted a kingdom. When Cavour rose as a prominent nationalist figure in Italy,...

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...Nationalism in the 1800s
The 1800s were an age of revolution for most parts of the world. To open the 1800s Napoleon conquers Italy, U.S negotiates Louisiana Purchase from France, and Haiti declares independence from France. Although, a big revolutionary change was the idea and rise of nationalism. According to dictionary.com, nationalism is marked by a feeling of superiority over other countries. Nationalism came into effect after the hard years of the 1840s, the 1850s and 1860s followed by good times and prosperity. Nationalism played a major role in the 1800s by Napoleon's reign, nation building in Italy, nationalism in Germany.
Before considering nationalism, it is important to note that Europe’s government was still weak after undergoing the French Revolution. In 1800 when Napoleon came to power as the emperor of France, he immediately took control of the government. The idea of nationalism ran high in the government when Napoleon took over the majority of Europe. Early nationalism was mainly liberal and idealistic, although nationalism was known to take many different forms. It wasn’t until Louis Napoleon, Napoleon’s nephew, started believing that the government should represent the people and the government should help their people economically. Both Napoleon and his nephew had a vision of national unity and social progress....

...Q.1: How did Nationalism and the idea of the Nation-State emerge?
Ans: Till mid-eighteenth century most of the people around world did not have concept of nationalism i.e. about their nationality, their national identity etc. This is because at that time nations did not exist in their modern form. People lived within kingdoms, small states, principalities, chiefdoms and not within nations. The first clear expression of nationalism came with the French Revolution in 1789. Thus, the idea of nationalism emerged in Europe and developed over a long period of time. It was a process that took many decades, involved many wars and revolutions, many ideological battles and political conflicts. The idea of nationalism emerged among the working-class population and liberal-minded educated middle class comprising of industrialists, professionals, artists, businessmen etc. which resulted into the creation of the nation - state in place of the multi-national dynastic empires of Europe.
Q.2: Discuss the importance of language and popular traditions in the creation of national identity.
Ans: The language and popular traditions of a particular region or country give the feeling of shared past and common thread which played an important role in the growth of national identity. They bind all the people by the thread of togetherness and pride. They give them the feeling of being culturally one, hence, they...

...Explain the beginnings of the spread of nationalism in Europe from 1815 to 1848.
When the Great Powers (Britain, Prussia, Austria, Russia, and France) met in Vienna in 1815, they were attempting to establish a lasting peace and a balance of power in Europe. After ten years of revolution in France and sixteen years of Napoleonic Wars the representatives wanted to prevent any more upheaval. One of their solutions was a proposal to restore kings to their thrones ( a concept called "legitimacy") wherever possible, to redraw political boundaries to pre-Napoleonic days, to establish buffer zones around France, and to appoint the Prime Minister of Austria, Metternich, as the keeper of the peace. Despite the agreement of these politicians, however, there were groups of political activists in many countries, inspired by the American and French revolutions, inspired by Enlightenment philosophy, and inspired by the success of Napoleon's nationalist army, who were demanding their own independent nations. These included Hungarians who wanted independence from Austria, Greeks who wanted independence from the Ottoman empire, Germans who wanted to unify and become one country, Italians who wanted unification, and others (in France for example) who wanted to overthrow the monarchy and replace it with a democratic republic. Keeping all these groups under surveillance and control would prove to be more than Metternich could handle.
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...1
1984 and Nationalism
Thesis Statement: In “1984” George Orwell portrays a society derived from several forms
nationalism, which has one point – to isolate the individual citizen to achieve unwavering
allegiance to the Party. However, Orwell reveals the mechanisms of nationalism are not
just to forge submission to the Party but rather to eradicate any other allegiances that
would distract from the Party’s agenda.
George Orwell, in his novel “1984”, invents an authoritarian future society that is
controlled by a centralized government that exercises near total control over the freedom,
will, and thought of the people. Orwell struggles to find the appropriate language
essential to describe this political government, settling on variations of nationalism. From
Orwell’s letters published in 1945, he attempts to describe nationalism as: “I mean the
habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and
evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests” (Orwell, Letter).
Orwell builds this fictional future by incorporating elements of both civic and ethnic
nationalism to create a despotic state that divides and controls the populace based on
allegiance to the ruler and the Party rather than to the state of Oceania. In “1984”, Orwell
states “Orthodoxy means not thinking – not needing to think. Orthodoxy is
unconsciousness” (Orwell,...

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Patriotism is a term that has been manipulated and misunderstood since the inception of America. People have been praised for having it in abundance. Others have been persecuted for a lack thereof. How does one define Patriotism? It is a word that can only be defined by the individual applying it.
The word itself can have a meaning as simple as “a love for one’s country”. It is true that loving your country can be patriotic. Every year around July 4th, many Americans show their love of country by displaying flags and lighting fireworks. This once a year ritual seems to be the only time many citizens exercise their patriotism. 359 days of the year there may only be one or two flags displayed in a town; usually at a bank, or local post office. But for six or seven days every light post and window has a flag on display. Firework shows are arranged by counties or towns and they ooh and ahh the masses for a brief 30 or 40 minutes. On July 5th or shortly thereafter, people head back to work and their feeling of love for your country subsides until next July. This isn’t to say that people stop loving their country for the next eleven months. It just means that it may not be socially acceptable to dress head to toe in red, white, and blue. And almost certainly your neighbors wouldn’t appreciate a firework show every other night. So by this definition, Americans generally show patriotism for roughly one week out of the year...

...What is the importance of patriotism in the lives of Today's youth?
Yahoo answer
Patriotism is a love for one's country and a desire to make her better. It is contrasted with simple nationalism (or jingoism) in that nationalism and jingoism represent a blind loyalty to one's country even when it wrong (an example would be the people of Nazi Germany). Patriotism, on the other hand, recognizes when its nation is wrong and fights to correct the wrong even as it supports that nation.
Patriotism is important in the lives of youth today for several reasons. One is because the youth of today will inherit the nation tomorrow. If youth do not become involved in making our nation better, they may not receive a nation worth inheriting. Second, the nation built by today's youth will be the nation they pass along to their own children. If young people today wish their children to have an America of freedom, the young people of today must protect and defend that freedom by supporting our country's greatness and working to make her ever better. Third, the youth of today owe a debt to those of the past who sacrificed, worked hard, and even died to build us a free nation. To keep faith with those who have gone before and upon whose toil and sacrifice the nation was built, youth need to show patriotism.
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...Midterm
The idea of nationalism is a new and complex phenomenon. It is difficult to gain an exact definition was what and how nationalism came to be, however there are popular ideas and theories. Two of the main approaches to understanding nationalism is through Anthony Smiths idea of primordialist and Benedict Anderson's constructivist approach. The primordialist approach explained by Smith is the idea that nations are natural phenomenon which are that have been around since the beginning of creation. The constructivist approach which Anderson describes is the idea that nations are made up by the members in them. Anderson defines nationalism as “an imagined political monnunity and imaged as both inherenly limited and sovereign” (Anderson, 5-7). However both ideas believe that there regardless of approaches both share the idea that people within nations share a strong bond and kinship with each other because they share a national identity in some way. Often times people creat their own nation identities bases on factors such as religion or territory, which leads to the way their ideas and places shape nationalism.
India has often been described as one state with two different nations trapped within it. There is a Hindu India and a Muslim India, both constantly clashing with one another due to lifestyle differences. The constant blood shed caused poet Muhammad Iqbal to derive the idea of a seperate...

...Essay 2: Critically discuss and analyze the different influences on, and the expressions of, African nationalism between the two world wars.
There were various types of influences on Africa, which encouraged nationalism. The uniting of the continent brought on a movement called Pan- Africanism, although never succeeding in uniting all of Africa, it also brought up some of the most violent outbreaks against each other’s tribes and problems. Besides these devastating events, there have been some accomplishments where nationalism has played a positive role. Thomas Hodgkin states that African nationalism is “a process of profound social, economic and political change” (1957:216). What can be derived from this statement is that it is a state of continual transformation and struggle to gain the position of a free and independent country.
The movement for political freedom went through various stages and struggles, which were directly affected by colonialism. Africans sought to overthrow European governments, gaining access to all resources which belonged to that nation. Africans also wanted to gain independence from these governments, building new nation states which belonged to the people of that country, initially struggling for many years to resist the pressure of colonialist invasion. African nations tried to gain power and regain their nation as new independent nation states, fighting for freedom. This was partly...